Hanging by a Moment
by Natisha
Summary: During their freshman year of high school, Gordo asks Lizzie to the Spring Fling. Everything is perfect until Ethan Craft asks her, too; when Lizzie ditches her best friend for Mr. Popularity, she finds herself tangled in a big mess.


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Author's Notes: This has been previously published on FF.N, but I took the first draft down and did a bit of revising; now, it is back and I hope to complete it sometime in the near future. Please review once you read it!

"I'm fallin' even more in love with you  
Letting go of all I've held on to  
I'm standing here until you make me move  
I'm hanging by a moment here with you"

-- "Hanging by a Moment", Lifehouse

Hanging by a Moment  
by: Natisha

Chapter One:  


"Ugh, I swear the administration is just trying to rub my perpetual singleness in my face with every school function they come up with," Lizzie McGuire bemoaned as she appeared by Miranda Sanchez's shoulder. "Ms. Ungermeyer must get some sick, twisted pleasure from my suffering."

Miranda laughed heartily at Lizzie's complaint. "Chica, it's a ploy to make _everybody_ suffer. My cousin told me that when she was in school, the dances were nothing worth mentioning," she informed the blonde in a slightly accented voice. Miranda pushed her Algebra book into her light purple messenger bag before closing her locker and turning the dial back to zero.

With a sigh, Lizzie stated, "Still. It's another dance for me to be lonely at while watching all the happy couples." Just then, the fourteen year old's eyes fell upon two fellow freshman on the opposite side of the hallway and Lizzie let out a groan. "For example, Ethan Craft and Kate Sanders. Kate still rubs the fact that she's dating Ethan in my face, and this 'Spring Fling' gives her more of a chance to do so."

Before Miranda had a chance to open her mouth to reply, a deeper male voice cut her off. "Lizzie, if it's going to be such a horrible experience for you, why don't you just not go?" David Gordon had just exited his chemistry class and had walked over to join the girls. He had overheard Lizzie's complaints, but not by choice.

"Gordo," Lizzie said exasperatedly, drawing out his name in a whining tone. "You are just uncapable of understanding the psyche of a teenage girl." She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder expertly before shooting Gordo a "so there" look. Gordo, however, looked unfazed.

"Let's just change the subject," Gordo suggested, beginning to walk away from Miranda's locker. The girls followed him down the hallway as he left Ethan and Kate, who were standing very close together whispering and giggling, behind. Together, the three friends left the high school building and continued walking on the sidewalk in the direction of their houses. Miranda's stop would be first, following by Gordo's, but Gordo would continue the trek to Lizzie's house to make sure she got home okay before finally going home himself. It was a routine that the three had began at the beginning of freshman year; since it worked, nobody found a reason to discontinue it.

"To what?" Lizzie asked, brushing strands of blonde hair away from her face. "There's nothing else to talk about. In case you've forgotten, Hillridge is a painfully boring town."

Gordo shrugged, defeated. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Lizzie was right. Not much went on in the three friends' hometown -- nothing worth discussing, anyway -- so when dances were scheduled at the high school, that was the subject that usually circulated in the students' conversations. One would think that Gordo, who had been friends with two very girly girls who cared about their hairstyles and makeup and clothes more than anything else, would have become accustomed to it by now, but he hadn't. Suddenly, something popped into Gordo's mind. "What about your brother's recent rise to stardom on the sixth grade baseball team? Now, I find _that_ very respectable."

The snort escaped Miranda before she even had the chance to think about holding it back. "Please -- making the winning run at some peewee baseball game is hardly what I would call a 'rise to stardom'," she replied cynically. "Besides," Miranda continued, "I would think that since Lizzie lives with the 'star', she has heard more than enough about Matt's new baseball career to last her a few lifetimes."

Lizzie grinned. "Actually, at first I was really proud of him. Baseball is just something that comes naturally to Matt, plus it keeps him and his geeky friends out of my hair!" She sighed.

"Then what happened?" Gordo asked, realizing that Matt was not the type of person whose endeavors went unnoticed.

"_Then_ he began acting like a snobby, rich _pro_ ball player," Lizzie continued with a small chuckle. "He started making 'Matt McGuire' merchandise and started finding random things around the house to autograph and sell to the kids at school, with the help of Lanny and Melina, of course. He's still grounded."

Both Miranda and Gordo burst into laughter. That sounded exactly like something Matt McGuire, nicknamed "Worm" by Lizzie, would do. "I think the McGuire clan is destined to be some sort of star," Miranda said once she composed herself, referring (of course) to Lizzie's stint as a pop star during the class trip to Rome. Miranda looked ready to add something else to her comment but then she noticed that they had just stopped in front of her house. "Bye, guys. I'll call you tonight, Lizzie!" she called before beginning to dig through her messenger bag for the key to her house.

"Bye, Miranda," Lizzie and Gordo said in unison. The two made sure their friend was able to find her key and unlock the front door before continuing on their way.

Silence ensued before Gordo struck up their conversation from before they left school. "So," he started, catching Lizzie's attention. Once Lizzie, who had been admiring the flowers in the gardens of the houses they had been passing, looked up at him, Gordo continued. "What's so important about finding a 'popular' date for this Spring Fling? Why not just go with Miranda and me like we used to."

Lizzie sighed. "Gordo, you're so easygoing that you just don't care. You're your own person, and you don't care what the hell people think of you! It's different for me and Miranda...the two of us, we _want_ to be a part of the 'in'-crowd and we care whether or not the kids at school think we're cool, or geeky, or in between," she explained, pushing her hand into the pocket of her jeans. A second later, she came back up with her own key in case the door to her house was locked. "Besides, when you, Miranda, and I used to go to dances together, we were in junior high. Junior high is a whole lot different from high school!"

Gordo quickly recovered from the shock of hearing Lizzie say "hell". Swearing had never been a part of Lizzie's character, so it threw Gordo off for a moment. "I still say that you guys are more popular than you think you are. Do you really have to hang out with girls like Kate Sanders and Claire Miller and the rest of the ditzy cheerleaders to realize that?" he asked.

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie matter-of-factly stated, "I may be a little bit more popular now than I was last year, but I'm still not in the ranks of Kate and Claire. And it's not that I want to hang out with them or anything! I just want to be accepted by them."

"It shouldn't matter what they think of you, Lizzie," Gordo insisted. In a slightly lower voice, Gordo added, "You're a wonderful person and anyone who doesn't see that has got to be blind or stupid, or both!"

For a moment, Lizzie wasn't entirely sure of what she was supposed to say in response to Gordo's compliment. Sure, Gordo had complimented her before -- many times, in fact -- but this time, it seemed a bit different, a bit more heartfelt. Things between the two friends had become slightly more weird than they were used to after they returned from Rome...that was to be expected, of course, because Lizzie had kissed him! There had been numerous times that Lizzie had tried to bring up the subject of the kiss they had shared because she so desperately wanted to know if he had felt anything, but Gordo was skilled in changing the subject, which he always did if Lizzie even said the words "Rome" or "kiss" -- even when it didn't pertain to them!

At a loss of what to say to her best friend, Lizzie just smiled and stated, "Thanks, Gordo. That means a lot to me."

Gordo returned her smile. "No problem. I was just speaking the truth."

The two continued walking in silence for a few minutes. Finally, they passed up Gordo's house and appeared in front of Lizzie's just moments later. Lizzie stopped at the edge of her lawn and turned to face Gordo, who was biting his lip nervously. "Thanks for walking me home," she said.

"Yeah," was Gordo's slightly offhand response. "Um, I'll see you at school tomorrow and if you find time to call me in between gossiping to Miranda on the phone and gossiping to Miranda on the computer, call me. Or something."

"Will do," Lizzie replied with a small smile. "See you." With that, Lizzie turned and began walking to her front door. Before she even managed to take more than three steps, however, Gordo's voice made her stop.

"Lizzie, I was just thinking," he started, fidgeting with the strap of his backpack in the way he always did when he was extremely nervous about something. "If you really wanted a date to the Spring Fling and nobody else asked you -- um, I would be very happy to take you. You know, be your date. I mean, if you want! You don't have to feel obligated to say 'yes' to me or anything just because you're my best friend, but if you wanted to or something...I'd be glad to!"

Laughing, Lizzie said, "I'd love to go with you, Gordo. Thanks for asking me." A small smile remained on her lips as she watched the different emotions play across Gordo's face.

Slowly, Gordo let out a relieved breath. That hadn't been so hard...and she hadn't turned him down! Right that moment, Gordo felt like everything was perfect. "No problem. I, uh, didn't want you to stay home or go alone or anything."

"Thanks again," Lizzie said truthfully before turning and continuing on her way to her door. "Bye, Gordo."  


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To be continued…  
  
**Author's Notes:** Thanks for reading! If you're feeling charitable enough, I would love to hear some feedback before I post the next chapter. Whether it be constructive criticism or something along the lines of "Loved it! Great story!", I would appreciate it **very** much. This is sort of a test-run for me, so I need all the support and encouragement I can get! The next chapter should be out soon. ;)


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